Boxborough Planning Board Continues Astro Crane Hearing, Passes Bylaw and Warrant Votes

BOXBOROUGH -- December 16, 2024, Boxborough Planning Board continued the Astro Crane industrial storage hearing and advanced several zoning actions at its December 16 meeting. The board voted unanimously to push the 340 Codman Hill Road site plan review and alternate access special permit to January 6 after town engineer Sue Carter's second revision letter arrived only hours before the hearing, leaving both the board and applicant Bruce Selleck and Associates without time to review it. Carter flagged a non-native landscape monoculture of Norway blue spruce and green giant arborvitae, unshielded 19-foot building lights facing Codman Hill Road, and the need for a perimeter storage barrier and gate valve on catch basins draining directly to groundwater recharge in the aquifer protection district. The board unanimously recommended reinserting original hazardous waste language at Zoning Bylaw Section 6.6.3C for Annual Town Meeting, acting on updated advice from Special Land Use Counsel that grandfathered reinsertion is now viable. Placeholder votes for two additional warrant articles passed unanimously, one clarifying that special permit decision criteria under Section 2.3.4 apply to all special permits in the bylaw, the other directing alignment of aquifer protection district use regulations with state DEP drinking water standards, while a third placeholder requiring subdivision-standard roadways for multi-building lots failed 2-3, with members citing unvetted unintended consequences. On Mass Ave rezoning, member Cindy Markowitz called for a January workshop before any public hearing, saying the western corridor should be treated holistically; the board agreed to meet January 27.